Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is moving to end raising national flags outside city hall as a community group is set to raise the Palestinian flag there for the first time this weekend.
Farkas announced Thursday on social media that he intends to introduce an urgent motion next week that aims to amend the city’s flag policy so that “national flags will no longer be raised at city hall.”
He noted the change would “apply equally to all countries,” if approved by city council.
“Over the past several days, Calgarians from many communities have reached out with serious concerns about how national flag-raisings, of any country, can unintentionally heighten tensions here at home,” Farkas said in a statement.
“These events, even when well-intentioned, increasingly risk becoming flashpoints for conflict and for the alarming rise in in antisemitism and Islamophobia we’re seeing in our city.”
Under the City of Calgary’s flag policy, residents can request the raising of national flags of countries recognized by the federal government on that country’s national day.
Farkas noted city council does not have the legal authority to determine which countries Canada recognizes.
According to the City of Calgary, a request to raise the State of Palestine’s flag was received on Sept. 24, three days after the federal government announced Canada would recognize Palestinian statehood.
“We decided that hey we can have our day in the sun like everybody else,” said Haneen Omar, a member of the Palestinian Community Association of Calgary.
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“This is really just a moment for us to say we can have a moment for our community.”
Although the request was originally approved for Nov. 30, the city said the decision was made Thursday to move the flag raising to Nov. 15, State of Palestine Independence Day, to adhere to city policy.
Lisa Libin, the president of the Calgary Jewish Foundation, said the community was “extremely disappointed” to learn the flag-raising would take place; and communicated those concerns with the mayor’s office.
“We expressed our concerns and the dangers a flag-raising like this would do, not just for our community, but the message it sends to our city,” Libin told Global News.”
According to the city, there are 47 flag-raising ceremonies scheduled outside city hall so far this year. Those include Ukraine, Israel, Eritrea, Haiti, Poland, and Jamaica.
There are two more previously-approved national flag-raising ceremonies scheduled for this year after Saturday’s event, including Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Albania.
If Farkas’ motion is approved, national flag ceremonies would be banned moving forward.
“City hall must be a place that brings people together,” Farkas’ statement read. “National flags, particularly during times of global conflict, can have the opposite effect.”
The mayor’s announcement was met with disappointment, according to Omar, who noted Saturday’s event is not a protest, or a rally aiming to make a political statement.
“We’re obviously hurt and disappointed to see the comments from our brand new mayor,” she said. “To say that if we get the rights everybody else gets that means nobody else should get that or to suggest that its divisive is sad.”
Libin also expressed disappointment, citing the change of the flag raising date comes ahead of a council debate on the motion, and would prohibit the Israeli flag from being flown in the future.
“That flag for the past two years has been associated with calls for the death of Jews,” she said. “It’s really hard for us to swallow the fact that we will allow for this flag to be flown and not ours.”
The move comes after Regina city council overhauled its flag policy earlier this year.
There are many flags permanently flown outside Calgary city hall, according to the city, including the provincial and territorial flags in order they entered confederation, the Canadian flag, Alberta’s flag, the Union Jack, Calgary’s city flag and the Treaty 7 flag.
Farkas said he plans to introduce his motion next week.
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